Ikea hates me…and you and you…

With bright shiny faces, brimming with optimism, we placed our order in person. We purchased the Double Dresser and Mirror, and paid for the delivery and installation of the furniture.

Confirmed Delivery was clearly slated for be Thursday between 10:00 and 2:00pm.

We both had full calendars at work and so we hired an assistant to be on site to receive the merchandise and oversee the delivery and installation.

Thursday, at 8:00 am, GoodWill removed the large antique dresser we were replacing. We had carefully emptied all the clothes, shoes and various items ready to put them in the brand, new dresser in a few hours.

Katie, our Assistant, waited….There were no calls to confirm the arrival. She read and re- read the agreement and knew Ikea would certainly be efficient and on time.

Wrong on both accounts.

She started by calling the infamous 800 number…She spoke to three people who assured her they would be right back or connect her to a superior. Zip, Nada, Zero.

She was on hold for two hours. The first go around.

Based on Katie’s report, I called. I know a thing or two about Customer Service. The first time the Ikea person said they would right back, I was put on hold for 30 minutes. Somebody else came on, and put me on hold; 15 minutes later, I was assured me that Laura would call me the following day at 1 o’clock to iron out the delivery problems and line up the furniture delivery for two days later.

Meanwhile, our entire bed and floor was covered with suits, jackets, shirts, ties and dozens of carefully organized shoes were lining the walls.

What problems?

Laura did not call.

We got back on the phone, gave anyone who would listen, our Case Number.

Somebody near the delivery department indicated the delivery wouldn’t happen that day and they would get back to us.

(I made the mistake of glancing at online reviews…the barrage of complaints went on for pages and pages- in multiple languages. Yikes.)

Like heck?!

There is no way I was going to take that for an answer. Naturally, I asked speak to supervisor, there were no supervisors, they put me on hold again. Another two hours.

I cleaned out the refrigerator, the hall closet and three drawers while on hold.

The Following Day, I scrutinized every line of dozens of IKEA reviews and got more and more depressed as I realize thousands of people were irate upset and incensed byICKEA’s inefficiency and general disregard for any semblance of professionalism.

There were volumes of horror stories written by poor IKEA customers.

We thought we would be the exception. We had dotted all the “i’s” and crossed all the “t’s” and prepaid for the delivery and the merchandise and the installation. We were on the IKEA Mad Not So Merry Go Round for three days before we spoke to a human who cared.